Latest News

  There are risks in crypto-assets and  aviation.  And the government opted for the less risky path.  Uddalok Bhattacharya  sums up K P Krishnan : Given the characteristics of crypto-assets, regulators ought to build capacity in their technological and economic aspects. Read it  here Mahesh Vyas : The announcement on repealing the farm laws did not make any material difference to improving rural consumer sentiment. Read it  here Indrajit Gupta : The real challenge for Akasa will be to match IndiGo’s cost structure, which is the benchmark across the industry on efficiency and scale. Read it  here Read Complete Article

  Apple  is reportedly working on a charger that can power multiple devices, an iPhone, AirPods, and Watch simultaneously. In the latest edition of 'Power On' newsletter Mark Gurman revealed some interesting information about the company's future wireless charging technology, reports MacRumors. He writes, "I also believe  Apple  is working on short and long-distance wireless charging devices and that it imagines a future where all of Apple's major devices can charge each other. Imagine an iPad charging an  iPhone  and then that  iPhone  charging AirPods or an  Apple  Watch." He further added that Apple is looking for both short and long distance wireless charging, which is quite a bit more advanced than its current induction charging based offerings. "Imagine an iPad charging an  iPhone  and then that iPhone charging AirPods or an Apple Watch," adds Gurman. Currently, the iPhone maker sells the MagSafe Duo wireless charger that charges both

  Twitter's new CEO Parag Agrawal hopes to extend the social networking site's reach under his tenure while making continued progress while providing exciting opportunities in challenging times. "I'm grateful for the service that you built, the culture, soul, and purpose you fostered among us and for leading the company through really significant challenges," Parag posted on  Twitter  thanking  Jack Dorsey. "The world is watching us right now, even more than they have before. Lots of people are going to have lots of different views about today's news. It is because they care about  Twitter  and our future, and it's a signal that the work we do matte. Let's show the world Twitter's full potential," he further added. Parag expressed his gratitude towards  Jack Dorsey  for his mentorship and friendship. "The world is watching us right now, even more than they have before. Lots of People are going to have lots of different views

  Singapore's civil aviation regulator plans to progressively extend Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) flights to more cities in  India. India  and  Singapore  agreed to resume passenger flights from November 29 under an air transport bubble agreement. Air India, IndiGo,  Singapore  Airlines and Vistara have announced flights between the two countries. According to this agreement 6 daily VTL flights would be operated from Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai to  Singapore  allowing vaccinated passengers quarantine free travel. Passengers travelling from other cities on a non-VTL flight have to undergo a 7-day quarantine at the declared place of accommodation in Singapore. “Singapore takes a cautious and step-by-step approach in reviving  air travel.  For India, we have launched a VTL for travellers from Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai for a start. Pre-COVID, these three cities presented strong travel demand. We will extend the VTL to more cities in  India  progressively,” Civil Aviation Authority

  Telecom operator  Vodafone Idea  Ltd (VIL) on Friday said it has achieved around 4 gigabit per second speed during the ongoing 5G trials. The speed was achieved in the 26 gigahertz spectrum band, or the millimeter band, which is proposed to be put for sale in the future auction. "We have been able to achieve up to 4.2 Gbps speed in millimeter band during the trial," VIL chief technology officer Jagbir Singh said here. The company has been running 5G trial in Gandhinagar with Nokia and in Pune with Ericsson. Singh said the government has extended 5G trials by six months, and it will go on till May 2022 or till spectrum auction result, whichever is earlier. Chief regulatory and corporate officer P Balaji said the trial has been extended till May but the government has not shared any timeline for spectrum auction yet. VIL demonstrated 5G use case of remote medical diagnostics, cloud gaming, public safety, emergency services using drones etc. Read Complete Article

  Music streaming platform  Spotify  on Friday said its long-term goal in India is to build a robust ecosystem with audio creators, listeners, and partners. "Our long term goal in India is to build a robust ecosystem with audio creators, listeners and partners alike, invest in top-notch creators, including independent creators who are making the mark in podcasting, continue to enable next line of creators were training and educating aspiring podcasters,"  Spotify  Managing Director India Amarjit Singh Batra said. Spotify  also aims to showcase creators across India in different languages and genres locally and globally, he added. While speaking at Spotify Podcasters' Day, Batra said last year was phenomenal for India's audio streaming industry and for podcasts. "Last year has been phenomenal for India's audio streaming industry in general, and for podcasts in particular. We have seen dramatic growth in podcast creators and business," he added.

  A proposed legislation does not prioritise the rights of Indians over their data in the public and has instead expanded to areas beyond its ambit and without sufficient consultation, senior executives at digital rights organisation Access Now have said. The Personal  Data Protection  (PDP) legislation--in the making since 2018—will be tabled in Parliament’s Winter Session beginning Monday. Reports and dissent notes filed by the members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) deliberating the Bill suggest several changes from its initial draft in 2019. Social media seems to have been included in the legislation. “Based on the reports so far and the details shared by MPs involved in the process, it is clear that this is not currently the Privacy and  Data Protection  law that India needs. The current draft does not adequately protect people's right to privacy and autonomy or enable strict accountability, particularly from the government,” said Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia Pac

  Australia  will introduce legislation to make  social media  giants provide details of users who post defamatory comments, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday.   The government has been looking at the extent of the responsibility of platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, for defamatory material published on their sites and comes after the country's highest court ruled that publishers can be held liable for public comments on online forums. The ruling caused some news  companies  like CNN to deny Australians access to their Facebook pages.   "The online world should not be a wild west where bots and bigots and trolls and others are anonymously going around and can harm people," Morrison said at a televised press briefing.   "That is not what can happen in the real world, and there is no case for it to be able to be happening in the digital world." The new legislation will introduce a complaints mechanism, so that if somebody thinks they are being def

  Global  artificial intelligence  (AI) software revenue is forecast to reach $62.5 billion in 2022, an increase of 21.3 per cent from 2021, according to  Gartner. The top five use cases for AI software spending in 2022 will be knowledge management, virtual assistants, autonomous vehicles, digital workplace and crowdsourced data. "The AI software market is picking up speed, but its long-term trajectory will depend on enterprises advancing their AI maturity," said Alys Woodward, senior research director at  Gartner. The AI software market encompasses applications with AI embedded in them, such as computer vision software, as well as software that is used to build AI systems. "Successful AI business outcomes will depend on the careful selection of use cases," said Woodward. "Use cases that deliver significant business value, yet can be scaled to reduce risk, are critical to demonstrate the impact of AI investment to business stakeholders," he added

  Swedish caller identification app  Truecaller  on Thursday rolled out its latest version 12 with a new Video Caller ID feature addition, call recording for free users, and a redesigned user interface (UI). A total of five features have been announced as part of the  Truecaller  Version 12 update. " Truecaller  is a vital part of communication for over 22 crore Indians, for both their professional and personal needs. We are humbled by the level of trust people have shown in us but we are also driven by the goal of transforming communication," Rishit Jhunjhunwala, Chief Product Officer and Managing Director, Truecaller India said in a statement. Video Caller ID feature allows users to set a short video that plays automatically when they call friends and family. Users can choose from one of the built-in video templates or record their own video. Another feature is Call Announce. Once enabled, the new optional feature will speak the caller ID for incoming phone calls ou

  Swedish music streaming giant  Spotify  is testing a new feature in its mobile app that basically adds a vertical feed of music videos like  TikTok  that users can scroll through to find something they like. Several apps like Instagram and YouTube are replicating the  TikTok  style with a vertical short video feed. The feature was spotted in the beta version of  Spotify  for iOS, which is available on TestFlight. A new icon in the tab bar of the app takes users to a new vertical video experience where they can swipe up or down to watch short video clips, reports 9To5Google. As per the report,  Spotify  declined to provide further details about the vertical feed of music videos.However, the company confirmed in a statement that it has been exploring the idea of a vertical video feed. The feature may be taking advantage of Spotify's existing Canvas format. Introduced broadly in 2019, Canvas allows artists to create videos that accompany their music on the Spotify app. Spotify recen

  Shazam, the music recognition platform acquired by  Apple  for reportedly $400 million in 2018, has been updated to version 15.0, with the app now able to spend more time listening to tougher-to-determine songs. Available as an update via the App Store, Shazam version 15.0's update notes explain that the milestone update adds in a change to the way the feature functions. Now, the app can spend more time listening to a particular song, reports AppleInsider. "Shazam now finds more songs by trying harder, for longer," advise the notes. "Tap to Shazam to give it a go!" it added. Typically, Shazam will recognise a track within a few seconds, but will listen for longer periods if it cannot quite hear or make out the song that's being played. After a preset period of time, the app will give up on trying to listen to the song, an act that typically makes users re-attempt recognition, along with moving their iPhone closer to the speaker. It is highly likely that by

  Apple  is reportedly planning to partner with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. for the production of its own 5G modems for future iPhones. According to The Verge,  Apple  is said to be planning to use TSMC's 4nm process node, which hasn't yet been deployed for any commercial product; the modem is apparently being designed and tested at 5nm before moving to mass production in 2023 at 4nm. Apple's switch to modems of its own design is widely expected to happen in 2023, and TSMC is the natural manufacturing partner. Qualcomm, which is the dominant player in the industry and produces modem components for the entire  iPhone  13 lineup, recently said that it expects to account for just 20 per cent of  iPhone  modem orders in two years' time. Apple  bought Intel's 5G modem division in 2019, foreshadowing the eventual switch. Earlier that year Qualcomm and Apple agreed to end a costly modem technology patent dispute, with Qualcomm receiving more than USD 4 b

  Meta owned instant messaging platform  WhatsApp has introduced a new tool for web and desktop users to make their own custom stickers. One can access the sticker maker from any chat > Attach (paperclip icon) > Sticker and upload a photo to create custom sticker. A user can outline and crop a photo into a sticker and add emojis or words to it. "To use Sticker Maker, download the latest version of  WhatsApp  for Web or Desktop, from a chat window select the attachments icon, then the Sticker icon, and from there, you can upload a photo and make your own magic," the firm said in a statement. WhatsApp  recently introduced two new safety features 'Flash Calls' and 'Message Level Reporting' for users in India. The Flash Calls and Message Level Reporting features will allow people better security and control over their usage of the messaging app. With Flash Calls new Android users or the ones who change their devices frequently, one can choose to

  Twitter  on Wednesday introduced updates to its iOS app to prevent tweets from disappearing as the users try to read them. The iOS users faced this problem where tweets were disappearing when replies are being added to an ongoing conversation. "We've made some updates on iOS to prevent Tweets from disappearing mid-read. Now when you pause your timeline scrolling to look at a Tweet, it should stay put!"  Twitter  said in an update. The micro-blogging platform earlier this month issued an update to the disappearing Tweet experience for web. The company first discussed Tweets disappearing from view mid-read in September. "We know it's a frustrating experience, so we're working on changing it. Over the next two months, we'll be rolling out updates to the way we show you Tweets so they don't disappear," it had said. A Tweet would move up the timeline as replies were added to the ongoing conversation. "Since some conversations can

  Samsung  Electronics said on Wednesday it has selected the city of Taylor in Texas, the US, as the site of its new $17 billion chip fabrication plant, a move to boost production amid a global chip shortage. The decision came five months after the tech giant announced a plan to build a second, next-generation chip plant in the United States, and as the chip supply crunch caused global automobile and consumer electronics companies to slash their production. Samsung  said it had considered multiple factors, including "the local  semiconductor  ecosystem, infrastructure stability, local government support and community development opportunities." Also the proximity to its current manufacturing site in Austin, about 25 kilometers southwest of Taylor, will enable "the two locations to share the necessary infrastructure and resources," it said, reports Yonhap news agency. The move will help  Samsung  lay "the groundwork for another important chapter in our f